g g INTRODUCTION. 



without being designedly selected for this purpose. The names denning the stirpes, 

 as has already been stated, are the same which Mr. Macleay employs in the divisions 

 of his class of Ametabola, and they follow the same order in which they occur in 

 the Horse Entomologies:. (See p. 390, 392.) It is necessary, however, to state 

 clearly, that these names, applied to the groups of the larvae of the Papilionidae, are 

 merely indicative of analogies, or show that the larvae possess certain analogous rela- 

 tions to the forms enumerated. This cannot be better illustrated, than by the follow- 

 ing observation of Mr. Macleay ; in giving the analogous characters of Coleopterous 

 larva?, (pp. 422 and 423 of Hor. Ent.) he says : " in terming larvae Chilognathiformes 

 or CMlopodiformes, it is not meant that they are Scolopendrce or Iuli, or even near to 

 them in affinity, but only that they are so constructed, that certain analogical circum- 

 stances attending them strongly remind us of these Ametabola." 



It may be proper, while considering this subject, to call the attention of the 

 reader more particularly to the class of Ametabola, as defined by Mr. Macleay, 

 with consummate ability, as it is one of the most remarkable groups in entomology, 

 especially, in regard to its analogical relations to other groups. This class not 

 only points out the natural order or succession of various minor subdivisions, 

 but it represents many of the annulose forms, in their simple or elementary 

 state. Thus, for instance, it exhibits the Coleoptera and Lepidoptera in the first 

 stages of their existence. In illustration of this, I again refer to the Horse Ento- 

 mological p. 287, where, speaking of the Ametabola, the author remarks : " it is 

 not absolutely meant that these animals do not undergo metamorphosis, but that, 

 constructed on the same plan with the larva' of true insects, they are rendered 

 incapable by nature of completing their metamorphosis, and are able to perform the 

 offices of adult life in all the various stages of air incomplete change of form." 

 And then he proceeds to illustrate this remarkable arrangement of nature, by the 

 following observation : " such a species of imperfection is not unique, nor confined 

 to the Annulosa ; for the Ametabola have their prototypes among the Vertebrata in 

 the group Amphibia, where the genera Siren and Proteus are, to speak analogically, 

 animals left imperfect in the first stage of metamorphosis." Now, although in com- 

 paring the larvae of insects with the class of Ametabola, Mr. Macleay's remarks 

 admit of an application to various orders, yet it is evident, that, in making the 

 comparison alluded to, he had the larvaa of Coleoptera primarily in view, which 

 indeed first directed his attention more particularly to the Ametabola. 



Regarding the larvae of Eepidoptera he expresses himself thus (p. 400) : " If 

 Lepidopterous larvaa sometimes imitate the more eccentric forms of the order 

 of Chilognatha (alluding to the Chenilles-Chportes, vermiform larvae), every one 

 knoxvs that their ordinary shape is that of an lulus." This indeed, as has been 



stated, 



